I’ve written up a page on the new Robinson R66, a five-seat jet-powered helicopter due out in 2010. Probably of interest only for die-hard aviation nerds.
4 thoughts on “Robinson R66”
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A posting every day; an interesting idea every three months…
I’ve written up a page on the new Robinson R66, a five-seat jet-powered helicopter due out in 2010. Probably of interest only for die-hard aviation nerds.
Comments are closed.
The newly certified Cabri G2 from Hélicoptères Guimbal S.A. might be of interest to R22 pilots. It is a 2-seater featuring a high inertia three-bladed fully articulated rotor with unlimited life composite blades, shrouded tail rotor, pretty carbon composite fuselage, crash-worthy seats, glass cockpit, electronic ignition and silencer on the exhaust.
It was designed by a former Eurocopter engineer.
http://www.loop.aero/news/2008/January/9/1
Derek: Thanks for that note about the Cabri. I hadn’t heard of it. It looks like an excellent machine for training (esp. the high inertia rotor system), though I am fearful of the price given that it will be made in a country where a Diet Coke costs $6. Also nice to see the muffler. American aircraft companies put virtually no effort into interior or exterior sound-proofing until you get up to the turbojet level.
I think I read somewhere that price is EUR 240k (currently EUR is very strong so equals about USD 350k), although I don’t know what is included.
$350k? You can buy an R44 for $300k and stick in a glass cockpit for $60k (Chelton and Sagem?). The R44 has plenty of rotor inertia for training and a 670 lb. full-fuel payload to be spread among four seats. I don’t see how they can sell a two-seater for more than the world’s most popular four-seater. Maybe they need to discover the miracle of Chinese slave labor…